This volume is the concluding one of a series projected by the late John Gilmary Shea , LL. D., on the “Discovery and Explorations of the Mississippi Valley.” The initial volume, issued in 1852, comprises the Narratives of Marquette, Allouez, Membré, Hennepin and Anastase Douay. The second, issued in 1861, contains those of Cavelier, St. Cosme, Le Seuer, Gravier and Guignas. The present volume, giving Joutel’s Journal of La Salle’s third and last voyage, is reprinted from the first English trans

The earliest French explorers of the seventeenth century, among the great lakes and rivers of the North American continent,—Champlain, Nicolet, Marquette, Hennepin, Joliet and La Salle—were men of no common mould. Whether clerics, imbued with the enthusiasm of their holy faith, or laymen, dominated by the love of adventure and the prospect of adding to the wealth and glory of their beloved France, their ideals were sublime, their labors prodigious, their sufferings heroic, their perseverance ind

Henri Joutel , the writer of this narrative, was a native of Rouen, in France. His father had formerly been head-gardener to Henri Cavelier, the uncle of René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, the explorer, whose presence and projects for a new voyage to the Mississippi were the engrossing subjects of interest to his fellow townsmen of Rouen just at the time of Joutel’s return from a seventeen years’ service in the army. [24] Being then in the prime of his young manhood, of an adventurous spir

The Manuscript of this Journal hapning to fall into my Hands, and having shewn it to some Persons well vers’d in these Affairs, they were of Opinion it deserv’d to be printed; especially at this Time, when travels are so much in Request, and in regard this is now seasonable, on Account of the Description it gives of the famous River Missisipi and of the Country of Louisiana , where it is intended to make great Settlements. Besides, this Relation is uncommon, curious and ingaging, both in Regard

The Manuscript of this Journal hapning to fall into my Hands, and having shewn it to some Persons well vers’d in these Affairs, they were of Opinion it deserv’d to be printed; especially at this Time, when travels are so much in Request, and in regard this is now seasonable, on Account of the Description it gives of the famous River Missisipi and of the Country of Louisiana , where it is intended to make great Settlements. Besides, this Relation is uncommon, curious and ingaging, both in Regard

This Journal of Monsieur Joutel , whereof Monsieur Tonty makes mention in the Book that has been printed of the last Discoveries in America , Folio 319, has this peculiar, that it exactly contains what hap’ned to Monsieur de la Sale , Day by Day, in that fatal Voyage, since his Departure from Rochelle to his death, and till the Return of his Brother Monsieur Cavelier the Priest, Monsieur Cavelier his Nephew, the Reverend Father Anastasius , the Recolet, and the said Sieur Joutel , who in Order t

It is Mr. Joutel that speaks in this Journal. At the Time when Monsieur de la Sale was preparing for his last Voyage into North America , I happen’d to be at Roan , the Place where he and I were both born, being return’d from the Army, where I had serv’d sixteen or seventeen Years. The Reputation gain’d by Monsieur de la Sale , the Greatness of his Undertaking, the Natural Curiosity which all men are possess’d with, and my Acquaintance with his Kindred, and with several of the Inhabitants of tha

But God has now provided for it, and it is the Concern of Heaven, for if France is interested on Account of the Temporal Advantages it expects, the Church is so in like Manner, for the Conversion of the Indians it hopes will follow. Accordingly, Providence has taken the Affair in Hand, having rais’d the Man, who is the fittest to revive and support so important a Project. This is Monsieur Crozat , Secretary to the King, a Man of singular Worth, very Intelligent, Well-meaning, and prodigiously Ri

L OUIS , by the Grace of God, King of France and Navarre : To all who shall see these present Letters, Greeting. The Care we have always had to procure the Welfare and Advantage of our Subjects having induced us, notwithstanding the almost continual Wars which we have been obliged to support from the Beginning of our Reign, to seek for all possible Opportunities of enlarging and extending the Trade of our American Colonies, We did in the Year 1683 give our orders to undertake a Discovery of the

The pioneer of French travellers to the country west of the great lakes, and the first white man who is reputed to have reached a northern tributary of the Mississippi, was Jean Nicolet, who in 1634, or thereabouts, made treaties with the Indians at Green Bay, and ascended Fox River. The “ Relation de ce qui s’est passé en la Nouvelle France , 1640,” Paris, 1641, gives the earliest indication of this voyage, and a summary description is given in the Relation of 1642–43. These reports are reprint

In 1683 La Salle returned to France and presented, in two memorials to the king, propositions for an expedition to colonize the Mississippi, and take possession of the Spanish mines in New Mexico. The first memorial, which gives a brief account of his previous achievements, is in Margry’s Collection, vol. iii ., pp. 17–30. A translation is in French’s “Historical Collections,” part i., pp. 37–44; also in the second series, pp. 1–15, of the same publication, and in Falconer’s “Mississippi.” The s

Charlevoix’s “Histoire et Description générale de la Nouvelle France,” Paris, 1744, is the first historical work of value to treat of the early explorations. Charlevoix was familiar with the country traversed by Marquette and La Salle, having, in 1721, followed the latter’s route to the Mississippi. Shea published at New York, in 1866–67, an English translation of this work, and in the notes which he added, embodied the results of his extensive studies upon the early history of America, showing